Immunity of guinea-pig to diphtheria toxin and its effect upon the offspring / by H.J. Südmersen and A.T. Glenny.

  • Südmersen, Henry J.
Date:
[1912?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Immunity of guinea-pig to diphtheria toxin and its effect upon the offspring / by H.J. Südmersen and A.T. Glenny. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    IMMUNITY OF GUINEA-PIGS TO DIPHTHERIA TOXIN AND ITS EFFECT UPON THE OFFSPRING. Part 1. By H. J. SUDMERSEN, Ph.D., and A. T. GLENNY, B.Sc. (From the Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories, Brockwell Hall, Herne Hill, London, S.E.) Since the time Ehrlich(1) established on a scientific basis many of the main facts regarding the transmission of immunity as exhibited in mice to the vegetable poisons, abrin, ricin and robin, many investigators have concerned themselves with the subject of transmission of immunity to various poisons and bacterial infections. Ehrlich first showed con¬ clusively that the immunity transmitted from the mother was of a passive nature, due to the transference of the antibodies from the body fluids of the mother to the foetus through the placenta, and also in the case of the mouse by means of the milk during lactation. He found that the immunity thus transmitted disappeared some three months after birth ; no trace of immunity was detected in the next generation; neither was an immunised father capable of transmitting immunity to his offspring. Ehrlich concluded from these results that there exists no true hereditary transmission of immunity in mice, a conclusion further supported in both mice and guinea-pigs immunised against tetanus(2). These results have in the main been confirmed by all later observers. The fact that the young of mice become immunised through the milk is exceptional and not generally shown by other animals experimented upon. Carriere(3) obtained results in guinea-pigs inoculated with products of the tubercle bacillus which show that not only is immunity in the strict sense of the term not transmitted to the offspring but on the contrary a condition of increased susceptibility and a general lowered condition of vitality of the offspring resulted.